From childhood to Mastrant

My name is Martin Huml and I started amateur radio in 1981 when I was 12 years old. I started in OK1OAZ radio club. In 1984 I got my first callsign for independent operation OL1BLN (160m and VHF only) and after reaching adulthood OK1FUA, which I still use. In the 1990's I also started using the contest call OL5Y. Since the beginning I have been most interested in amateur radio contesting. In my childhood years mainly on 2m, later also on KV bands. I first got into big KV contests thanks to Frant OK1DFP (now OK1DF), when we used to do many RTTY contests together with mechanical teletype. In my early days my teachers were also OK1DRV, OK1AJX (now OK1JX), OK1DDG (now OK1PC), OK1VOR, OK1DJT and many others. I was also greatly influenced by the successes and articles of my friend Jiri, OK2RZ. I still use a lot of the know-how I gained from him today, and I am grateful for that. A big breakthrough for me was the first visit to Pantelleria Island (IH9), to which I was invited by Vlada OK1CW and Pavel OK1MM. I fell in love with the island and visited it 30 times between 1997 and 2003 to participate in the contest. In that time I won 7 world CQ/ARRL trophies in different categories. Repeatedly building and dismantling stations for each contest led me, together with my friend Mauro (IN3QBR, SK), to found the Mastrant brand (www.mastrant.com), which is dedicated to antenna guying and related products. Nowadays, I am mainly dedicated to building my own contesting station at home, which is used by me, my wife Jana OK3FLY and my daughter Laura (OL5G in contests).